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Aptos Junior High · AptosPublic

Aptos Junior High: The state doesn't publish enough data to score this school fairly.

Aptos is a middle school in Aptos. The state doesn't publish enough data to score it fairly — so we won't. Here's what we can show.

No Scope Score available

California doesn't publicly report per-grade test results when fewer than 11 students are tested in a grade — a privacy protection for small schools. We can't compute a Scope Score without that data.

California's own answer to the same question

Context — never part of the Scope Score

California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits well below the middle of California middle schools in reading, and the 48th in math. We show it; we don't score it.

California's growth model, ranked against every California school
State model · readingmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, reading: −16 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 8th percentile of 7,519 reported schools.8th pctile · −16 pts
State model · mathmatched students, grades 4-8California growth model, math: 0 scale-score points versus the state's expectation, 48th percentile of 7,518 reported schools.48th pctile · 0 pts
this school| the tick is the middle of the California field

pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California middle school lands at −1 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −8 and +6 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.

Worth a school visit

With little published data, a visit does the heavy lifting: ask about class sizes, teacher tenure, and where last year's students went next.

  • Ask about typical class sizes and the student-teacher ratio.
  • Ask how long teachers have stayed at the school.
  • Ask where recent graduates or transfers went next.
  • Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom, and watch how a lesson actually runs.

How every group of students does here

At Aptos Junior High in Aptos, 26.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 19.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Aptos Junior High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 6.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (18.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (25.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 36.9 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 266 students tested.

All students at this school: 39% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 39%, district —, state 40%39%
MaleMale: this school 38%, district 21%, state 42%38% · −2 vs school
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 23%, district 16%, state 32%23% · −17 vs school
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 23%, district 17%, state 32%23% · −17 vs school
FemaleFemale: this school 42%, district 23%, state 44%42% · +2 vs school
WhiteWhite: this school 54%, district 49%, state 56%54% · +14 vs school
Students with DisabilitiesStudents with Disabilities: this school 7%, district 7%, state 15%7% · −32 vs school
English LearnersEnglish Learners: this school 3%, district 5%, state 11%3% · −36 vs school
Two or More RacesTwo or More Races: this school 46%, district 57%, state 56%46% · +7 vs school

6 of 15 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
Subgroup growth by grade

Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

The state's growth model, by student group

California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California middle school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.

Reading
English Only394 studentsEnglish Only, reading: −12 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 394 students.−12 pts · −12 vs typical
Low-income students242 studentsLow-income students, reading: −22 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 242 students.−22 pts · −19 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students236 studentsHispanic or Latino students, reading: −24 scale-score points versus expectation, against −2 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 236 students.−24 pts · −22 vs typical
White228 studentsWhite, reading: −12 scale-score points versus expectation, against 0 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 228 students.−12 pts · −12 vs typical
English Learner79 studentsEnglish Learner, reading: −34 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 79 students.−34 pts · −29 vs typical
Math
English Only393 studentsEnglish Only, math: +3 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 393 students.+3 pts · +6 vs typical
Low-income students241 studentsLow-income students, math: −9 scale-score points versus expectation, against −5 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 241 students.−9 pts · −4 vs typical
Hispanic or Latino students233 studentsHispanic or Latino students, math: −8 scale-score points versus expectation, against −6 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 233 students.−8 pts · −2 vs typical
White229 studentsWhite, math: +7 scale-score points versus expectation, against +1 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 229 students.+7 pts · +6 vs typical
English Learner78 studentsEnglish Learner, math: −13 scale-score points versus expectation, against −3 for the same group at a typical California middle school, 78 students.−13 pts · −10 vs typical
this school typical California middle school, same group| the centre tick is 0 = as predicted

— 1 more group is reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.

Where the path goes

The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.

K-12 Feeder Path

Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.

Aptos HighScope 57direct feeder

The road from this school ends at Aptos High, which sent 37 graduates to UC campuses last fall and teaches 18 AP subjects. Those numbers describe past cohorts — a child starting here today would reach Aptos High around 2031, and 6 years is a long time for a school to hold still, and by the state's 2023 count 85% of Aptos High's graduates enrolled in college somewhere, UC or not.

37 UC ENROLLEES (FALL 2025) · 18 AP SUBJECTS TAUGHT full record on Aptos High's page
Source: UC & College Board

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Student : teacherStudent to teacher ratio: this school 23:1, district 22:123:1
PrincipalElizabeth Ettinger
Teaching staff27 teachers
Avg. experience11.2 years
Fully credentialed69%
First-year teachers4%
Salary Schedule
Teacher salary schedule$58,520 – $109,309
Principal salary$122,944 – $142,021
Superintendent salary$268,536

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent here

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $19,760, CA average $14,491$19,760 · spent at this school

These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.

Federal share$273 per student

$273 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

District current expense · FY 2024–25$24,632 per student

The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.

Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction56%
Instruction support17%
Student services13%
Administration4%
Buildings & maintenance8%
Other1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

district detail, 2016–2020 — the newest published
2020$15,608 per pupil
2019$15,165 per pupil
2018$15,343 per pupil
2017$13,924 per pupil
2016$12,975 per pupil

Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →

The neighborhood it serves

Context — never part of the Scope Score
Hispanic50.3%
District 84.6% · CA 56.1%
White43.3%
District 12.4% · CA 19.9%
Other4.6%
District 2.2% · CA 9.0%
Asian1.4%
District 0.5% · CA 10.2%
Black0.5%
District 0.2% · CA 4.8%
Low IncomeFree/reduced lunch eligible 51.1% (13pp below CA avg)
Neighborhood — American Community Survey
Median income$148K · CA $85K
Median home value$1.20M · CA $659K
Bachelor's degree+56% · CA 35%
ZIP population24,951
Median age48 years

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level

Worth Knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 30% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.

Your other options

Private alternatives nearby

Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.


SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction